Pitt Hoops Game Preview: Pitt vs. West Virginia

*Sorry in advance for the abbreviated game preview for the Backyard Brawl, as I’m out of town for a wedding and I don’t have full access to my technology. Still, I hope you find the Dream Backfield game preview useful in preparing for Friday’s big game.*

Pitt (2-1) comes into the 2019 men’s basketball Backyard Brawl off of a 71-57 win against Robert Morris on their turf. West Virginia (1-0) comes into Friday’s matchup having played just one game so far this season, a 94-84 win over Akron in Morgantown. Still, coming off of a home loss to Nicholls State on Saturday, Jeff Capel’s Panthers will want to post a strong showing against the Colonials tomorrow night.

Fast Facts

• The Panthers and Mountaineers have faced off 116 times on the court heading into Friday’s contest. West Virginia has won 70 of those games, while Pitt has won just 46.
• This will be Pitt and West Virginia’s third matchup since conference realignment sent the Panthers to the ACC and the Mountaineers to the Big 12. West Virginia has won the first two of those matches (69-60 in Pittsburgh in 2017; 69-59 in Morgantown in 2018).
• This is West Virginia head coach Bob Huggins’ 13th season at the helm for West Virginia. He boasts a career 271-151 record and nine NCAA tournament appearances with the Mountaineers.

West Virginia Preview

West Virginia returns just one of its top three scorers from a year ago, in sophomore forward Derek Culver. Culver is an excellent player, though, who posted an outstanding 11.5 points and 9.9 rebounds per game last year as a true freshman. Last season, Culver did not play against Pitt, as he saw his first game action on Dec. 22, 2018 against Jacksonville State. That makes his statistical prowess last season even more impressive, given that he played just two out of conference games, 22 conference games, and two games of post-season play.

In its season opener, Culver scored 16 points on 4-for-15 shooting from the floor, while he amassed eight free throw attempts and seven rebounds. Guard Jermaine Haley also added 16 points and seven boards, and forward Emmitt Matthews Jr. put up 13 points and seven rebounds.

True freshman guard Miles McBride looks like he’s going to be a key contributor for the team as well, as he played 29 minutes in the season opener and added 11 points on 5-of-6 shooting. West Virginia also added Oscar Tshiebwe, a highly-touted big man who was pursued by Jeff Capel and Pitt before he ultimately decided to join the Mountaineers basketball program. He played 12 minutes against Akron.

Pitt Preview

Pitt enters this contest coming off of a comeback win against Robert Morris, which saw them go down by 11 points early to the Colonials before dominating the second half to win by a final score of 71-57. A win is a win, but if you’re a Pitt fan, you might be concerned about the shrinking depth chart for the Panthers.

Capel’s rotation shrunk even further to just six players, as Xavier Johnson (38 minutes), Trey McGowens (37), Terrell Brown (35), Au’Diese Toney (31), Ryan Murphy (26), and Justin Champagnie (23) were the only players to see meaningful minutes against the Colonials. Role players Gerald Drumgoole (6), Eric Hamilton (2), Abdoul Karim Coulibaly (1), and Onyebuchi Ezeakudo (1) combined for just 10 minutes.

After reduced minutes for Drumgoole and Hamilton against Nicholls State, it speaks to where Capel’s confidence lies amid Pitt’s early season struggles following their season-opening win against Florida State. The players that Capel trusts the most will get most of the minutes, and it appears now that Drumgoole and Hamilton will need to fight to re-gain Capel’s trust and earn back the minutes that they’ve lost in the early going.

Coulibaly just has played just five minutes over the past two games, and it seems clear that Capel does not yet feel that he’s ready for in-game action. That is not likely to change against a team like West Virginia. With that in mind, hopefully Drumgoole and Hamilton are able to meaningfully contribute on Friday, as Pitt will need all the depth they can get against a West Virginia team that has multiple capable scorers.

Game Preview

There will be two keys to the game for the Panthers today. The first is to be able to protect the basketball in the face of pressure from West Virginia. Last season, the Mountaineers forced the Panthers to commit 24 turnovers–the most of nay game in the Capel era. After putting up 21 turnovers against Nicholls State, Pitt was more careful with the ball against Robert Morris, and they will need to continue that trend on Friday. McGowens and Johnson need to be intentional with the ball in their hands, and Pitt will need contributions from the outside to help give their sophomore guards some space in the lane when they do decide to drive.

The second key to the game will be to contain Culver. The star sophomore forward will provide Brown his one of his toughest matchups of the young season thus far. West Virginia has multiple players who can score the basketball that Pitt will need to watch, but the offense runs through Culver.

That’s it for now, and because of the wedding, I actually will not be able to watch the game until Sunday. At that point, I’ll have some analysis for Dream Backfield subscribers about what went wrong (and right) for the Panthers on Friday night.